Scandal of 'care' abuse

FOUR weeks after David Cameron announced ­Operation Pallial, “an ­independent review and investigation into historic abuse in care within the North Wales police area”, I have come to understand the severe limitations of this inquiry, due to report its findings in April 2013.

Our columnist implores David Cameron to set up a national inquiry into care home abuse []

As a journalist and following the Savile revelations, which opened up this repugnant can of worms, I have interviewed dozens of abuse victims from care homes across the UK and from over a ­period of 30 years “in care”.

I am left in no doubt that the abuse of children in the system is neither historic nor limited to the Welsh border.

I have been shocked by the ­extent of abuse I have discovered. Much of it I have corroborated with social services reports and court documents as well as online government records.

Over the past 30-odd years there has been an increase in children abused or “missing in care”. Some are drafted into sex gangs, others simply vanish.

Last year in Kent 25 children aged 12-17 disappeared from care homes. It was suspected they were trafficked across the UK for labour and sexual exploitation.

Vulnerable children are still being failed...there must be an enquiry

This is a snapshot of a nationwide problem that we are failing to get to grips with. We must.

There are more children in care (89,000 in 2011) than at any other time in the past 30 years.

Yes, there are good care homes run by decent people who want to give their young charges the best foundation they can. And, yes, sometimes children must be ­removed from their families so they stand a chance of leading a healthy and productive life. But there are clear problems that must be addressed in the system, not least with funding.

Since 2010 financial support for national children’s services, ­including child protection, has been reduced. Not that this has ­affected some privately run, ­publicly ­funded care homes that charge as much as £250,000 per year, per child.

Experts I have consulted say ­investment should be ­redirected into creating decent “family ­bases” for children. Foster parents need encouragement not chastisement.

Sadly, even when we acknowledge that abuse has taken place in the system, such as in North Wales, victims are still being ­denied official acknowledgement of what happened to them.

Last week I was contacted by the 10th person to inform me that “the truth will never come out”.

This 50-something woman and her brother were taken into care in the Seventies. While she ­remained in the North-East her brother was taken to Bryn Alyn home in North Wales. He was ­extensively abused, physically and sexually, for over six years by convicted paedophile John Allen, who ran homes around the UK.

The sister, keen to pursue ­justice for her broken brother who still relies on medication to get through the day, has been ­informed there is no record of ­either of them even being in care.

As this passionate and determined woman said to me: “They’re trying to cover it up again. They think we’re thick, they think they can do it to us again.” The depth of fear and distrust these survivors have should not be underestimated. There exists a collective notion that justice will never be served. That they will continue to be undermined and besmirched just as they were when they were children.

This has been further amplified by the issues arising from police assistance. Many forces have been caught on the hop since Home Secretary Theresa May ­announced that victims should go to the police. It has become a familiar refrain to hear of police indifference. One woman contacted them the day after Ms May made the announcement in November. She has still not had a return call.

Another survivor turned up at an Essex police station only to be met with ridicule as he caught, in the reflection of a mirror, one ­policeman doing a whirring finger “crazy” motion.

On the evidence it seems these survivors are still being failed. While many stumble into adulthood relying on alcohol or drugs to attempt to obliterate the memories there exists this notion that “the Seventies were like that”.

It lulls us into a complacency, that “this could never happen again to children in care”. It could. It still does.

So I implore David Cameron to set up a national inquiry into care home abuse, beyond the narrow perimeters of Operation Pallial.

Failing vulnerable children once, without the knowledge it was happening, is under­standable. Failing them twice, when we know the situation, is nothing short of mass neglect.

Comments Unavailable

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article
at the moment. However, you will find some great articles
which you can comment on right now in our
Comment section.